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I think if someone were to create a simulation model of a truly free market with no regulation, and seed it with hundreds (thousands) of little businesses to start with, given enough time, you'll end up single monopoly that controls every industry, service, and product.

Everyone running ad blocking software is not sustainable, since ads pay for a lot of stuff. People also don't want to have to directly pay for things (plus, could you imagine if every website was paywalled?)

Seems to me that the best solution is to just run unintrusive ads. People don't really mind ads all that much, they just hate it when they're noisy (literally and metaphorically) and get in the way

His point is that "food science" is confusing and everybody is an expert who knows everything. Look at this discussion, for example. Every post starts with "The problem is..." or "No, the problem is actually..." Basically, everybody chiming in because they have it figured out

One person will tell you that eating whole grains is good, because they have complex carbs and fiber that will help you lower your cholesterol.

But then another person will tell you that whole grains are bad, because they have phytic acid which will rob you of nutrients and make your teeth rot.

Then someone will tell you that all you simply have to do is burn more calories than you consume, to create an energy deficit (and thus burn fat)

But then someone will tell you that your body will refuse to let go of certain fat because it acts as a storage device for toxins, so you need to cleanse with nutrient-rich food to lose weight.

One person will scream low carbs is the key.

Then another person corrects them, stating that simple carbs are bad, and complex carbs are good.

Yet another will state that fatty oils should be avoided, unless it's olive oil because everybody knows olive oil is healthy, just look how skinny the mediterranean people are!

This goes on and on. Everybody is an expert on health, and yet there's still obesity and health problems run amok. Personally, I think food is a very complex thing that we're not close to understanding. The best thing is to just eat like a dumb human animal, eating fruits, mushrooms, nuts and seeds, vegetables, whatever you can grab with your amazing human hands. Maybe occasionally, after lots and lots of running, you can eat some meat too.

I must *really* not be a car guy, but I just don't understand the appeal of engine noise. I hear an ICS engine roaring and all I can think is "That ancient technology is really struggling with its task."

Keep this in mind: Poor people spend their money on consumables. Middle income people spend their money on liabilities they think are assets. Rich people spend their money on assets that make them money.

Most "Awesome things", like cars, boats, electronics, etc, lose value pretty fast (Sorry if I'm putting words in your mouth, those were the first things that came to mind when I read "awesome stuff"). Eventually, you'll lose all your money. If I won 200 Million, I'd probably spend a tiny portion of it on buying nice houses for myself and my family, and use the rest to buy things like boring stock in boring companies. Boring, but secure companies that have been around for a hundred years and have offered dividends for decades.

Andrio (2580551) writes "In an unprecedented decision, an Argentine court has ruled that the Sumatran orangutan 'Sandra', who has spent 20 years at the zoo in Argentina's capital Buenos Aires, should be recognized as a person with a right to freedom.

The ruling, signed by the judges unanimously, would see Sandra freed from captivity and transferred to a nature sanctuary in Brazil after a court recognized the primate as a "non-human person" which has some basic human rights. The Buenos Aires zoo has 10 working days to seek an appeal."Link to Original Source

What your describing is more akin to a "virtual intelligence." Basically, a computer that's smart enough to have human reasoning. It would be like the star trek computer. You could tell it something like "Find me 100 different pictures of cats" and it would be able to do it as easily as a human could. (Ordinarily, getting a computer to perform such a task would be excruciatingly difficult and prone to false positives)

A true AI would be more akin to Data from Star Trek. It would have all the capabilities of a VI (virtual intelligence), but also have the self awareness, sentience, and desire for self-preservation that a human would.